Saturday, January 02, 2010

Benedict's New Year's homily

"Gil, I am surprised you haven't mention the Pope's New Year address today. Maybe something about that tomorrow?"

Thus a friend comments on my earlier "Muddling Through" post. He's right, of course. What Benedict XVI said in his New Year's homily is right at the heart of his pastoral concern. In my haste to repair this oversight, here is the London Times Online summary of the pope's message:

Pope Benedict XVI has ushered in the New Year with a plea for peace for the whole "human family" in a world marked by the "dark shadows" of war, violence, poverty and destruction of the environment.

In his homily at New Year's Day mass at St Peter's Basilica he said that the traditional family was the foundation of world peace. He added: "We all aspire to live in peace, but real peace is not the simple conquest of man or the result of political agreements: it is above all a divine gift."

In an indirect but clear attack on civil unions and gay marriages the Pope said "The family is the primary agent of peace, and the negation or even restriction of rights of the family threatens the very foundations of peace." In Spain, one of a number of European countries where gay marriage is sanctioned, hundreds of thousands marched in a "Family Day" demonstration last Sunday to defend traditional family values.

"Everything that serves to weaken the family based on the marriage of a man and a woman, everything that directly or indirectly stands in the way of its openness to the responsible acceptance of a new life, everything that obstructs its right to be primarily responsible for the education of its children, constitutes an obstacle on the road to peace," the Pope said.

2 comments:

The only difference between a heterosexual couple and a homosexual couple is the sex part—the physical part. When people say that same-sex couples shouldn’t be allowed to marry, they tacitly admit that to them, marriage is primarily about sex—a limited and restrictive definition that actually diminishes marriage. –Lauren Becker

To listen to Lauren Becker’s entire essay on same-sex marriage, click here. (Note that her essay, broadcast on the Point of Inquiry program of June 9, 2006, precedes the program’s interview with Cathleen Falsani.)

Doughlas,It's not about whether marriage is primarily about sex or not.

We shouldn't call an orange an apple because it is not an apple, nor will it ever be, regardless of how bad I or anyone else want it to be. Nor should we pretend that it is an apple just because everyone else says we should.